ORC Master Bedroom Week 4 - Art!

Welcome back to the second week of One Room Challenge hosted by Linda at Calling It Home. I'm so excited to be able to participate this year. If you are just joining me I'm working on our new master bedroom. My family moved into this 1970 home at the beginning of the summer and we are just now starting to make it our own.  Catch up here on Week 1, Week 2, and Week 3. 

This week I'm focusing on art. I already had several pieces of art in the room I knew would stay. However, there was this big empty wall that was irking me.

I thought about doing a wall hanging, but I wasn't so sure about it. I've never made one and I wasn't sure I could perfect one in the time of this challenge. I've been wanting to play around with an engineer print for a long time, and thought this might be a great space to experiment. I had a large space to fill and about a zero dollar budget. Perfect! Bryan also was on board with the idea of an image in this space.

A long long time ago I saw a post about how you can get images for free from the Library of Congress. I searched "Memphis" and spent hours looking through over 1200 images. I narrowed it down to a few favorites and then had Bryan help me make the final decision. Below is a few favorites.

Main Street

View from the Customs House

A rooming house on Beale Street. Reminds me of Minnie the Moocher. 

The river at sunset. This was our second favorite. 

We decided to go with the view from the customs house because the telephone poles in the image above were really bugging me.

I found a small sketch of our home in a closet and took it to Hobby Lobby to be framed. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on it, hence Hobby Lobby. I wish it had a date of when it was done because the tree situation is drastically different than it is now. Oh well. I am going to pair it with a mixed media piece I had made for Bryan. You'll have to wait to the reveal to see these.

I need to figure out how I'm going to frame the engineer print and also, you know, how to hang crown molding. See you back next week!

Big River Crossing

This past weekend a pedestrian bridge opened up on the Mississippi River connecting downtown Memphis to West Memphis, Arkansas. We didn't make it to the opening on Saturday, but we did stop by on Sunday afternoon to check it out. Sadly time constraints didn't allow us to walk the full length and back, but one day soon! 

The bridge offers an amazing view of Downtown Memphis, light breezes over the water, and a good time. This is a great activity for young kids. You can walk, run or bike over the bridge. 

Check out this link for more information. 

Quick Louisiana Road Trip

My husband, Bryan, is a sales rep for a running specialty brand. His job involves seasonal travel. Right now we are in between sales seasons, but he's been doing some events in the last few weeks to promote the launch of a new shoe model. When he's "selling" there isn't room for Charlie and I to travel with him, nor is his schedule conducive to toddlers. But when he's doing events there is more room and more flexibility for tagalongs. So when Bryan asked if we wanted to tagalong to New Orleans and Baton Rouge it didn't take too much convincing.

This was a quick trip; one night in New Orleans, one night in Baton Rouge, a lunch stop in Natchez, MS, and a drive through the delta.

First up, a walk in the Quarter before Bryan had to go to his first event. 

Charlie and I had dinner at Domenica. It was just what I needed. A somewhat fancy meal (complete with a cheese board and a glass of wine) and my date somewhat behaved himself. 

Thursday morning we had breakfast at Stanley!, a family favorite, before doing more walking around the Quarter. 

We stopped in Audobon Park to let someone (Charlie) run around a bit. 

We had the best poboys and then hit the road to Baton Rouge. 

Charlie and I ate at Acme in Baton Rouge while Bryan worked. Mike, the LSU mascot, was there and Charlie was simultaneously horrified and amused. 

The next morning after a great breakfast, Joe's Simple Cafe, we hit the road for Mississippi and stopped in Natchez. It's a beautiful town and I wish we had more time to spend there. 

Mississippi River, naturally. 

We got to town about 11 and were still full from our breakfast so we walked around a little bit. We didn't have time (or the energy to deal with Charlie) for a historic home tour, but we got to see the grounds of this one. 

Traveling with a toddler is always challenging, but I'm so glad we were able to make this trip work. We made a pitstop in Clarksdale to stock up on tamales. So in the end we came home with pralines, pickles and margarita mix from Natchez, and delta tamales. It was a win! 

ORC Master Bedroom Week 3

Welcome back to the second week of One Room Challenge hosted by Linda at Calling It Home. I'm so excited to be able to participate this year. If you are just joining me I'm working on our new master bedroom. My family moved into this 1970 home at the beginning of the summer and we are just now starting to make it our own.  Catch up here on Week 1 and Week 2.

It's all about the little things! Outlets, light switches, a door that won't close, and knobs.

While I was prepping to paint I took down the outlet and light switch covers, which got me thinking about upgrading. No one likes an outdated almond outlet. So while I was making a run to Lowe's I picked up some new outlets and light switches. I even took the time to check out all the fancy light switches. When I got home and broke the news to my husband, Bryan, he looked at me like I was the craziest person in the world. I misunderstood him to think he thought I was wasting money and time,  what he really didn't understand was that a person could be bothered by an outlet or light switch. It's like he doesn't even know me!

I looked up a few tutorials and even talked to a contractor at Lowe's and it didn't seem that difficult. Until we started working on our first one. Next to impossible. We spent about 15 minutes trying to get one wire out of the old plug. Bryan was angry and I didn't want to upset him any further, so we put a halt to our outlet adventure.

A few of the outlets in our bedroom had a faux new cover so I strategically placed those on the outlets that would be visible. I'm not entirely happy with this arrangement, but I can live with it. We haven't even tired the light switches yet. #scared

While we were moving the furniture, I was able to put power strips at the outlet behind our headboard. No more cords going from the besides tables to the side of the wall!!! These are the things you don't think about on moving day.

Another little, yet significant change we made was to our door. Since we moved in it won't close. Yeah, that's not so great in a master bedroom. We would push it close as much as possible so that the pets couldn't barge in at night, but it was less than ideal. Bryan took a chisel after the top of the door and then we got the sander out. After a few minutes and a lot of dust later, we can finally close our door! This is one of those things that is stupid how happy it makes me.

The last little thing I'm considering is door knobs. We have shiny 70s builder brass knobs on all our doors upstairs. I'm toying with the idea of changing them out. But I'd have to replace 14 knobs upstairs and that can get pricey. And what would I even change it to? Oil rubbed bronze holds no appeal to me. Hmmm... Thoughts?

This would be ideal, but I am having trouble finding it online. It's probably way out of budget though. Sigh. Maybe I'll make a trip to the hardware store to scope out the options.

As for progress in the room I've finished painting the walls and have a good portion of the trim done as well. Enough done so that we could put our furniture back and live like civilized people for the time being. I'm cramming as much painting in during naptimes as I possibly can. It is exhausting.

To add further stress we are traveling for a couple of days this week. My goal before leaving though is to make a decision regarding the art and possibly linens. So when I return I'll be the home stretch with finishing painting and finishing details.

It's Fall Ya'll!

This past weekend was a busy one. What with activities and trying to cram in some time to paint and work on our bedroom. One thing that has been lingering on the back of my to-do list was to get a pumpkin. Someone posted on our neighborhood Facebook page about a little fall event at our neighborhood nursery on Saturday. We stopped by on our way back from lunch, pre-naptime. I'm so glad we stopped because they had the most beautiful vignette setup for photos.

We got several pumpkins and Charlie got to decorate one as well. It was a fun time! 

ORC: Master Bedroom Week 2

Welcome back to the second week of One Room Challenge hosted by Linda at Calling It Home. I'm so excited to be able to participate this year. If you are just joining me I'm working on our new master bedroom. My family moved into this 1970 home at the beginning of the summer and we are just now starting to make it our own.

It's paint week! Leading up to this challenge I'd been thinking about paint for this room. I'll be painting our master bath and guest bedroom the same color so I've been looking at swatches for weeks. Actually I pulled swatches before we even moved specifically for these rooms. Did I tell you how much I hate purple?

I tried four different colors out and was easily able to make a decision. Funny how easy it is once you see it on the wall. Which would you choose?

I decided on Clary Sage by Sherwin Williams and Alabaster for trim, also by Sherwin Williams.

Previous owners seemed to take necessary precautions in case "the big one" happened. Nearly everything they hung was using a dry wall anchor.  Why? I've hung many a heavy thing without ever needing a dry wall anchor.  Patching holes required the extra step of punching the anchor flush with the wall and then spackling over.

Over the past week I've also thought a lot about wall hangings. Specifically for the wall between my side of the bed and the closet door. It bothers me.

Should I:
a) leave it blank
b) do some sort of engineering print or two here (because they are cheap and take up a bunch of space)
c) a woven wall hanging?

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think as I'm using every spare brain cell debating this with myself.

Back to the painting! I'll leave you with what our bedroom currently looks like. I've primed and gotten one coat of paint on. I tried to put it on thick, so we'll see if it needs another coat after it dries.

Please pray for our marriage. We "slept" in the guest bedroom last night, although neither of us really slept.

Let me know about the wall in the comments. Until then, see you next week!

Garden Update

On Mondays I often post a garden update, mostly for myself to look back on and see how my garden grows. This year I'm sharing a plot at Shelby Farms with my grandfather. 

It wouldn't be Monday without a trip to the garden. It was a cool morning (60s!) and I had a busy to-do list for the day, so Charlie and I just watered. We picked a handful of okra, checked on the butternut squash, and watered freely. 

Charlie was precious today, he wanted to hold the hose while I watered. He's been very big into helping lately. I'm trying to embrace it and not fight it, even if it takes a little bit longer. 

Animal poop is NOT what you want to see in your garden.

Hello greens... and grass.

Finally found out that turnips are in the left row and kale in the other two. That's a whole lotta greens! 

Coffee at Luke's

On Wednesday 200 coffee shops around the country re-branded for the day as Luke's, a throwback to a universally loved TV show, Gilmore Girls.

Bryan and I have been watching Gilmore Girls together since we were dating, 10 years ago. I remember watching the pilot the first night it aired and continued to be an avid fan. Together we've watched the show through at least 4 times, I've watched it at least once or twice more without him.

So when we heard that a local shop, City and State, would be among those participating we made sure we would be there. We arrived about 8:15 am and the line was wrapped around the door!

We probably waited over an hour and a half, just shy of two hours. There was a local singer playing his guitar just like the troubadour and everyone was in good spirits.

Above were my little Luke's waiting patiently in line. Charlie did amazingly well waiting. He didn't stray from us and made lots of new friends. 

We grabbed a picture under the sign just before we walked into the shop. An employee had just given Charlie a gourmet caramel candy, hence his weird expression. 

Cute little touches were added throughout the building like the cafe curtains and menu. 

It wouldn't be Luke's without a No Cell Phone sign! 

Finally we got our delicious coffee and some treats. The wait was a bit long for a normal Wednesday morning, but it was fun being part of a bigger event. 

We just finished watching The West Wing all the way through and are now excited to buckle down and watch all the Gilmore Girls seasons through again. We are in the middle of season 2, do you think we can make it before the new episodes? 

See you in Stars Hollow!

One Room Challenge: Master Bedroom Week 1

I am so excited to be able to participate in this round of One Room Challenge. I've followed along for years now and even participated a few years back when I put together my son's nursery. (Here's the finished room.)

Back in May we moved to a new home. It's about 1000 square feet larger than our first house and has a ton of space for us to grow into as a family. One of the most exciting things - for us at least - is that it has an official master bedroom and bathroom! Such a luxury coming from an older home with one bathroom. And the closet is attached to the bedroom... also something we didn't have in our first house. #firstworldproblems

We are of the camp that lives with a house for a little while before doing too much.  We moved in, put our furniture down, unpacked some boxes and hung a few art pieces. We've been here for four months now (how?!) and I'm dying to get rid of the purple rooms.  When we knew that we were moving I secretly got a little excited because I would finally have another excuse to participate in the One Room Challenge! And also getting to decorate a whole home again!

So the first room I want to tackle is our bedroom. It's a periwinkle color which drives me crazy. I am not a purple girl. Yet somehow both of our houses have had purple rooms. Here are my not professionally taken photos:

The view from the hallway. 

That door leads to our also purple bathroom with avocado green counter tops. Lord, help me. Perhaps I will save it for spring One Room Challenge? 

The door on the right is to our closet. 

I apologize for the terribly lit photo. I am not a camera pro, but I wanted to capture this wall with the little window. 

So here's my to-do list: 

• Paint, obviously
• Crown molding ??? It bugs me to no end that it is not in any of the upstairs rooms. Is this just a weird quirk or should it really be addressed? Please leave your opinion in the comments because I can't decide. 
• Clean up random junk that does not belong in here
• Switch lamp on the chest of drawers
• Install curtains
• Add interest over the cedar piece
• Add art to wall next to closet

All the furniture and art hung will stay put. I may play around with the linens, but my budget is basically zero, so probably not. I know it's a lot of wood pieces in there, but again, budget. Eventually I'd like an upholstered bench for the foot of the bed. I've kept an eye out, but haven't found anything I have to have yet. 

I really can't decide about the crown molding. Does it add value to a home or is just superfluous? Please leave me your thoughts. I'm leaning towards adding it, but the lazy side of me says no. 

So there you have it. Check out the other One Room Participants here. I can't wait to see what everyone is working on!